〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR A BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT Wherein is proved That it is a Duty incumbent on all men especially Believers that they be filled with the Spirit of God The gracious Counsels of God the Laws and Terms of his proceeding with men in order hereunto with Rules laid down whereby to judge whether men be filled with the Spirit of God or a contrary Spirit Lâ—kewise the way and means whereby men may be filled with the Spirit of God are all largely opened from the Scriptures AS ALSO The Divinity or Godhead of the HOLY GHOST Asserted and the Arguments brought against it throughly Examined and Answered The Grace of God â—n the fulness and freeness thereof evinced and many things relating to the Saints Communion with God and God dwelling in them Explained The necessity of the Ministry of the Gospel called the Ministry of the Spirit discussed and the usefulness thereof maintained With several other things of great importance in order to the benefit and peace of men All heretofore delivered in several SERMONS from Ephes 5.18 By that Pious Learned and Laborious Servant of God Mr. JOHN GOODWIN Sometime Minister of the Gospel in Coleman-Street LONDON And published after his Death for the Common good of all But if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of 〈◊〉 body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 And they chose Stephen a man full of the Holy Ghost Acts 6.5 Quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that as him Luke 11.13 Basil Homil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by E. C. for Henry Eversden at his Shop under the Crown-Tavern in West-Smithfield 1670. THE PUBLISHERS TO THE Ingenuous and Christian READER Good Reader THat great Law of Nature that hath uttered it self from the Lips of some of the Sons thereof That no man is born for himself only but the rest of Mankind do challenge a share in him or rather the whole of him And this by the Interpretation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ himself is the Sum or whole of the Second Table of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments and contains our whole Duty to our Neighbour viz. That we love him that is all men as our selves This great and Royal Law both of Nature and Grace hath occasioned this Discourse in thy hand to become publick The nature of it being spiritual and sublime carrying much of the peace and inward felicity of men and women in it hath imposed a necessity upon us not to confine it amongst our selves but to present it to the publick view of all whose hearts shall serve them to make a diligent and consciencious perusal thereof for their Accommodation in the things of their Present and Everlasting Peace and Welfare For this is certain that when any man or numbers of men have any Treasure in their hands to bless the World withal the Law of God obligeth them to minister unto the wants and necessities thereof they being generally so craving by reason of that ignorance and darkness that men are filled withal We shall not need to say much as to the Author of this Discourse nor to the time when these things were delivered by him in the course of his Publick Ministry it being sometime since and we question not but that there are many yet alive of those that heard it who have not lost the sense and spiritual resentment thereof but have many of those great Principles of light and truth remaining alive in power and great strength within them and will be glad of the opportunity of a second review of them The Author himself which is now at rest having finished the work which God judged meet for him and for which he was sent into the World was a man whose heart was set within him to serve his Generation with all faithfulness in the great Work of the Ministry of the Gospel not much valâ—â—ng the opprobation or displeasure of men when the Interest of his great Lord and Master and the present Peace and Everlasting Welfare of men were concerned being indeed very faithful and laborious in that great Work So that we may without vanity say of him as our blessed Saviour when time was said of John the Baptist Joh. 5.35 that he was in his time a burning and a shining light and many did much rejoyce at least for a season in his light although at some times and some turns in the faithful discharge of his Duty he met with the same measure that his great Lord and Master had measured out unto him in the daies of his flesh Joh. 6.60 66. For the Subject it self thou wilt find it as a light to guide thee in a dark place there being many of the great and gracious Counsels of God concerning men largely opened especially of such a nature whereon much of their spiritual Welfare doth depend viz. as to the manner and method of the Spirit of God in his proceedings with men and those Rules and Laws which he hath prescribed unto himself in his advance and decrease in their hearts and souls in order to the carrying them up into the Mount of God We mean into those high strains of the Gospel where the richest and choicest Consolations lie and where men and women may drink abundantly of them and be thereby put into the best capacity to serve God upon the highest terms of acceptation with himself as also may be great blessings and Benefactors to the World round about them according to the design of the Lord Christ in that choice which he makes of men by the Gospel which as the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 2.9 signifieth is the making of them a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a holy Nation a peculiar People for this very end and purpose namely That they might shew forth the Praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light The design of this Discourse being to carry thee up into the way of life which the Wiseman saith is above to the Wise that he may depart from hell beneath Prov. 15 24. which whilest men who love to dwell with their minds and hearts in these lower Regions are never like to be partakers of For this World and the things thereof were never intended by God as that which should answer the vast desires of men he having prepared better things for them that those noble Endowments of theirs might be conversant with matters of far greater concernment such as will advance and raise their felicity to a near Affinity and likeness with the Angels themselves those first-born Princes of Heaven who by beholding the Face of God continually are thereby filled with unspeakable joy and satisfaction and by means hereof are made blessed indeed Even so God in the Gospel through his abundant grace shines forth the knowledge of himself unto the Children of men that so beholding as in a Glass his Glory they may be
notice before-hand that he was a man full of the Holy Ghost Acts 6.5 And they chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost lâ—st otherwise the greatness of the Actions might prejudice the belief of them in those that should read them Whereas the Reader taking notice that Stephen was a man endued with more than ordinary Power and Wisdom from on High full of the Holy Ghost they might upon this account look upon it as a thing no waies incredible that Stephen should do and speak and suffer for both 〈◊〉 did So likewise when Paul Acts 13.9 in the Condition of a stranger undertook the bold and high Contest against Elimas the Sorcerer as he is called a false Prophet being a great Favourite as it seemeth to Sergiue Paulus the chief Ruler of the Country in the Isle of Cyprus there is express mention made before-hand of his being full of the Holy Ghost Then Saul who also is called Paul filled with the Holy Ghost set his eyes upon him and said c. Implying that such a thing as this would hardly have been undertaken by Paul unless he had been carried on by the Spirit of God within him and that by some considerable fulness of him And this Paul we now speak of laboured we know in the work of the Lord more abundantly than they all he was as we may say the Lord Christ's right hand upon the Earth he drove Sathan the God of this World before him from place to place and triumphed over him every where where he came he was too hard for him and cast him down from heaven like lightning and turned the affairs of his Kingdom upside down and laid wast his power made havock and desolation in all the Territories which he had amongst the generality of men But how came it about what was the reason why this Apostle so much and to such an high degree over acted the Line of the Labours Zeal and Faithfulness of all his Follows Questionless the reason was he had a richer and fuller anointing of the Spirit than they the Sails of his soul were filled with a stronger gale of the Spirit of God than theirs himself doth in effect give this account of his heroick and high Actings for Jesus Christ in the World Col. 1.28 29. Whom we preach saith he warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus whereunto I also labour striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily he laboured for this very purpose to present every man perfect in Christ and he did it according to his working namely the Spirit of Christ which did work in him mightily or with power Where observe by the way that the Apostle saith that he did labour in conformity unto the mighty working of the grace of God or of the Spirit of God in him the meaning seems to be this that the Spirit of God that put him on and Paul were both agreed Paul as ready to go as the Spirit was to send By this means Paul went on in all those Heroick Actions which he did and made great havock and desolation among the powers of sin and darkness and unbelief in the World By means I say of the Spirit Paul submitting himself unto him and receiving his impressions and going along with them he was enabled to many great atchievements and to labour more abundantly in the Gospel and for the interest of God and his glory in the World and the good of men also than any nay all the rest of the Apostles though they were men who were also very serviceable in their Generation To instance no father the Lord Christ himself who was the Worthy of all Worthies that ever the great God of Heaven and Earth imployed in any service upon Earth who was the first-born Servant of God and Elder Brother to Paul himself who kindled a fire that never was yet quenched nor ever shall be until it hath consumed all his Enemies and laid a foundation in his own bloud to build up the Name of God in the greatest glory amongst Angels and Men to the daies of Eternity He I say was a man of these high and most transcendent Atchievements by the advantage he had of all other men in being filled with the Spirit above them all according to that of Joh. 3.34 where it is said that God gave him the Spirit without measure he was not only filled with the Spirit but had the over flowing of the Spirit never did any man attain unto his pitch of zeal and faithfulness to the service of God So that there is no question but that he that is filled with the Spirit is in a capacity to Act and cannot lightly but Act at a very high rate for God if be do but follow the motions of the Spirit of God and will go along with them then he cannot I say but be great in the sight of God great in the services of Christ and of his Saints If you desire to know the reason hereof it is because as the higher the wind bloweth that Ship whose Sails are duly trimmed runneth so much the faster and riddeth the more way upon the Seas Even so when the heart and soul of a man shall be full of the Spirit of God such a person must needs be acted and carried on with more power and vigour in a swifter manner or course and be enabled to do twice as much as another in the same compass of time who hath but a scanty presence of the Spirit of God with him You know it is our Saviours Expression Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit I suppose he maketh mention of being born of the flesh only to shew and make things more passable to the understanding of Nicodomus to make way for that which he spake in the latter Now saith he that which is born of the flesh is flesh that thou and every man knows as the Parent that begetteth a Child is of a fleshly nature so that which is born must needs be flesh also And dost thou not know how a man shall be born again of the Spirit It is even as it is with those that be born of the flesh they partake of the same nature and receive the impressions of the flesh So it is with the Spirit that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Such as is the nature of the Spirit of God such also is that which is born or begotten of it that is those Principles whatsoever they are that he who is born of the Spirit doth receive by means of the Spirit of God must answer and be like unto those which the Spirit of God himself hath of which he is born or begotten Now you know that the Spirit of God is full of the Love of God and full of Zeal for God and set upon the magnifying of him in the World and promoting his Interest in the
both kinds of works shall be recompensed respectively with blessedness and with torments proportionably to the measure and degree wherein the one have been good and the other have been evil This appears from several places of Scripture as likewise from the reason it self Sect. 13 2 Cor. 9.6 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly but be that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully To restrain this to a reaping i. e. to what a man is like to receive or shall receive in this present World is contrary to several other Scriptures If saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.19 in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Therefore when the Holy Ghost promiseth that they who sow bountifully shall reap bountifully it evidently follows that this must be expounded of what they shall receive from God in the World which is to come And so in Rev. 14.13 where it is said of those that die in the Lord Blessed are the dead c. their works follow them Which shews that their works do not only stand by them or abide with them here while they are in this life but that when they shall go out of this World then blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them out of this World into that which is to come The Apostle gives this by way of Motive to press to good works that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord namely in proportion let a man do but little and he shall receive but little but let him rise as high as he will and be as fruitful as fruitfulness it self can render him he shall receive all and every particular Work and every particular Service in proportion of reward Know my Brethren there is not any of this precious Seed of glory and future blessedness lost there is not one corne or grain of this that shall rot under the clods The Heavens are the fruitfullest soil that can be sown in The Seed that you sow is the precious Seed of Righteousness and true Holiness and you cannot sow too thick of this seed For the Heavens are other manner of Fields than the Fields of this World They may indeed be sowed too thick with seed of another nature which may hinder the fructification thereof but you cannot sow the Fields of Heaven so thick but that your harvest will be answerable Mat. 25.34 c. our Saviour declares how and after what manner he will entreat those that have or shall have ministred unto him in his members Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World For I was an hungry and ye gave me meat c. Our Saviour makes this the very reason and account which he gives unto the World why the Saints were admitted into that Kingdom which was prepared for them i. e. for men and women who did act in the World after such a manner because they had done these things namely fed the hungry and cloathed c. By the way to give a little light unto that question Sect. 14 Whether Faith alone justifies or how and in what sense men are justified by works viz. by the Works of the Law Whensoever the Apostle is disputing with the Jews he treats with them according to their own sense which was that they did expect to be justified by the Works of the Law upon a riged account of their own Righteousness and that upon the merit of what they did and that it would be unrighteousness in God not to justifie them upon such terms Now the Apostle argues that by the Works of the Law in this sense no man can be justified Justification is taken two waies in Scripture either for the putting of men into a state of grace and favour with God or else it may be taken for that final judgement or award which God will pronounce unto men in the great Day Now if we speak of the former this no waies depends upon the Works of the Law nor upon any Works whatsoever for then the bare or meer performance of such Works would justifie men Now the Justification which Paul had chiefly to do with the Jews about was the first of these justifications which stands in the remission of sins which he describes in Rom. 4.7 8. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man c. This doth not depend upon the Works of the Law for without shedding of bloud there is no remission of sins Heb. 9.22 therefore Justification in this sense doth wholly depend upon the bloud of Jesus Christ and is procured by it and derived unto the Creature which doth believe and accept of him for a Saviour But if you take Justification in the second sense either for Gods approbation of men or for his final award that he shall give unto men this Justification doth depend wholly upon the matter upon mens Works and upon their righteousness For the Sentence of that justification at that day shall be awarded unto men not according as they have believed but according to the righteousness which they have wrought and so Works are necessary when it is said He that condemneth the Righteous and justifieth the Wicked that both are an abomination unto the Lord Prov. 17.15 Now to justifie here and in many other places signifies to approve or discharge from punishment so that for men to approve of the wicked in their evil waies and to discharge them from such punishment which ought to be inflicted on them is an abomination to the Lord. Thus then we see that what the Scriptures speak concerning God's rewarding mens good works it is not to be restrained to any thing they receive from him in this life yea if what God in the Scripture promiseth unto worthy and well-doing or unto men righteous and holy were confined to what they are like to receive from him in this World all the service that any mans righteousness or fruitfulness in well doing would do him would not amount to an exempting of him from being of all men the most miserable according to that passage of the Apostle lately mentioned 1 Cor. 15. If in this life only we have hope in Christ c. But this only by the way Sect. 15 That which we have in hand is this viz. That the good things which men and women do in respect of the reward of them are not limited unto this present life Besides the Scripture already mentioned there are very many others which speak directly as to this viz. that there shall be different degrees of rewards Dan. 12.3 They that be wise shall shin as â—h brightness of the firmament and they that turn many unto righteousnâ—sâ— as the Stars for ever and ever And so Mat. 10 41. He that receivâ—th a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward which clearly
God they do not simply mention or insist upon what they desire but they desire it in Gods way and by that means by which they knew God was wont or likely to confer it Thus when Christ prayed for the Sanctification of his Apostles he prayed not simply that God would sanctifie them but that he would sanctifie them by his truth because he knew that that was Gods standing way and method by which he was wont to sanctifie men So the Apostle here knowing that God would not do that great thing for the Ephesians which he prayed for on their behalf viz. that they might be strengthened with might in their inner man be made glorious in their Faith and believe like Princes but by the interposure of his spirit He frameth his prayer for it accordingly And this is further to be considered that to be strengthened with might in the inner man supposeth that the Spirit of God must advance above his ordinary degree of acting to effect it He must not only act or interpose in men to work it but at such a rate of energy and power which is proportionable to such an effect And that is another Rule to be minded when any thing is prescribed or mentioned by way of means in order to such or such an end though the proportion of the means be not expressed yet it is to be estimated and judged of by the nature and quality of the end to be obtained thereby But we have not time to stand upon this So that the Apostle we see plainly supposeth this that there is no strengthening with might in the inner man which in plain English is that there is no believing at any high rate but by the interposure of the Spirit yea and of such an interposure wherein he must give out himself at another manner of rate than it is requisite that he should do in making men simply to believe Secondly Sect. 9 Concerning the second particular which was when this Faith doth triumph in the soul when a man is full of the glory and power of it to give an adaequate and Commensurable account of it to shew men this Faith in its just magnitude by works and not simply so but by such a Systeme of works such a constant tenour of Conversation which according to the interpretation of a man comparing Causes with effects it may be rationally said that such a series of actions such a strain of life and conversation cannot proceed from cannot call any other Faith or Belief Father or Mother but only such a Faith which lifts up its head unto the Heavens For unless such a thing as this be done we shall not fill up the deep pit of the poverty of the World nor repair the sad breaches which ignorance security and unbelief have made upon the safety of it For this is the case of the World as before was signified it is very low the vanity sloathfulness and folly of it have brought it to a morsel of bread Now as when the visive faculty or sight is dim or any waies maimed or weak the object had need be very visible or to have many degrees of visibility or lightsomness in it to produce or cause an Act of Sensation In like manner the capacity and principle in the World whereby it is in any degree apprehensive or sensible of the things of its own recovery welfare and peace being depressed scant and low they who desire to work effectually upon it and make it serviceable unto the World notwithstanding must present it with such things which are very notorious and next to miraculous in their awakening effecting and restoring property Or as when the stone or wood is hard or very resistive against the incission or impression that is desired to be made upon it the Tool or Instrument used for this purpose had need be sharp and keen So the temper of the World being very obdurate and stubborn against such impressions that are like to benefit and accommodate them in their miserable condition that which is any waies probable or hopeful to work a cure upon them or to bring them to an effectual and lively remembrance of themselves must have so much the more of the Spirit and of the life of the vigour and power of Faith in it Therefore if mens waies and works shall be but low and ordinary and but level with those of the common sort of men in the World yea if they shall not be much above them and magnifie themselves beyond them though it were supposed that the Faith of the persons we speak of were very Royal and Prince-like yet will they not come at the World nor reach the obdurate Consciences and besotted Judgments of men by the mediation or interposure of such works and waies The Faith which is in men though it be of never so large a growth and stature yet will it not reach the sore and sad malady of the World but only by an outstretched arm of Works For let me say this though haply the thing may seem otherwise unto you that a mans works do not alwaies hold out weight and measure with his Faith nor are the greatest Believers alwaies the greatest Doers A full fountain indeed alwaies sends forth a stream of water answerable to the fulness of it But this is because a fountain is a natural cause and so alwaies gives out it self to the uttermost of its power whereas a Believer being a voluntary Agent may moderate and temper himself as he pleaseth in the exercise of those principles out of which he acteth Hence it cometh to pass that some men though they be large in believing yet are they strait in giving testimony to their own Faith We know many have the gift of wisdom who have not the gift of utterance many that are very excellent in wisdom and deep in understanding yet they are flow of utterance and so under a great disadvantage to get forth their wisdom so many having an excellent and a glorious work of Faith yet may they suffer through an ineptitude or backwardness of spirit to assert that high degree of Faith by Works proportionable thereunto or any waies competent to evince what manner of Faith it is that reigneth The frequent and fervent exhortations unto good works and fruitfulness in well-doing given by the Lord Christ himself and by his Apostles unto Believers sufficiently prove that the Faith of men doth not necessarily or alwaies give out its strength in good works For what need he to press and importune men to such things which they cannot refrain or forbear whether they be perswaded or pressed unto them or no Yea perswasions and exhortations are most proper if not only proper where there is some degree at least of a backwardness or indisposition unto the things exhorted or perswaded unto in those who are perswaded and exhorted unto them When the Apostle Paul writeth thus to Titus Tit. 3.14 And let ours also learn to maintain good works for
we see New Wine because of the spirit-fulness the heat and activeness of it being freely drank will make men that are of a slow speech or discourse backward and indisposed to much talk will make I say even these men to forget themselves and to pour out words apace after the manner of those that love as we say to hear themselves talk the pleasant vapour of the Wine over-coming with the warmth and heat of it the coldness of the Brain and so giving free motion unto the Tongue under such a provocation or encouragement as this even men that are naturally slow will speak and utter themselves at another manner of rate than ever they were known to do before Even so when the strong and high-spirited Consolations of the Gospel have once taken the head and the heart and soul of a man and seated themselves there they will soon alter and change the inward constitution and temper of the man So that whereas before he was dull and heavie yea and as dead unto God and could savour and relish nothing but his own things his own personal interest as his ease pleasure and the like Now he is as it were turned quite about and is all for God these Gospel Consolations when they are apprehended clearly in their strength and height and set to work in the soul accordingly then they are operative like unto themselves and have such a property and peculiarity of vertue in them so to affect the heart and soul that they will not be able to refrain or contain themselves but will be still speaking of their great and heavenly Benefactor When once they shall have received a strong sense and feeling of that abundant grace from him which the Gospel presenteth and tendereth unto the World and are possest of those matters of joy and high exaltation of spirit all the waters of this World will never be able to quench this flame but they will be ever and anon breaking forth against all oppositions of the Flesh and all carnal Interests whatsoever laughing all these to scorn and if it be possible they will lift up the Name of the Great God that hath done such great things for them that hath in effect prevented them with life and immortality already Secondly Sect. 7 Unless a person hath drunk liberally of the Consolations we speak of unless he be like a Prince in his spiritual estate and demesns and lives in high satisfaction of soul he will never be able to speak out like an Angel the vertues the pleasant and lovely things of his God he will never attain unto a lip of excellency for the service But the expressions of such a man whether by words or actions will be lean and starveling no waies Commensurable nor holding out with the Heights and Depths with the great and worthy things of God No man can discourse the Royal state and excellency of a King or Prince but an observant Courtier that hath had Communion with the grandeur and glory and goodly things belonging thereunto So a man that hath but lightly tasted of the grace goodness and bounty of God in the Gospel that hath alwaies kept in the valleys of the visions thereof and had Communion only with the rudiments and first beginnings of Evangelical knowledge can never be able to shew out the the vertues of God or bring them forth into a perfect light Something in this kind such a person possibly may do he may as it were whisper and stammer out in some broken manner somewhat of the transcendent excellencies of God And verily this is the length of such a mans arm he can lift up the Name of God no otherwise or upon no better terms in the World But now persons that have for a considerable space of time dwelt much in the upper Regions of the Gospel which border upon the third Heavens where life and immortality dwell as it were bodily persons that have with a clear eye of Faith seen the unsearchable riches of the grace of God in Christ and know not how to fear or whereof to be afraid being full of the love of God which casteth out fear they are the only men that are able to speak a Dialect proper to express those glorious things of God which are otherwise hard to be uttered especially unto the World being so dull of hearing in this kind the only men that know how to translate the vertues of God into such a Language whether by words or actions that the World may come to some reasonable and competent knowledge of them To this purpose the Apostle Peter admonished his scattered Saints to whom he writeth thus 1 Pet. 2.9 You are a Royal Priesthood that you should shew forth the praises of him that calleth you meaning that they were Evangelical Priests of a Royal and Princely Extraction and had withal spiritual or Evangelical Demesns and Revenues of joy peace and heavenly contentments answerable to both their great dignities of Kings and Priests Rev. 1.6 and that they had received these great things from God that hereby they might be fit and in a capacity to shew forth the vertues of God and of Jesus Christ that had called them out of darkness c. clearly implying That they which are not Royal that is royally spirited and so far from all servility and slavishness of spirit through fear are not in a condition to shew unto the World either their Creator or Redeemer in all their glory or like unto themselves It is the Prayer of David Psal 51.15 O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Now God hath no way or means at least none so proper to open any man's lips to a due wideness for the shewing forth of his praise as by causing him to know that by the bloud of Jesus Christ his Conseience is purged from dead works see Heb. 9.14 And thus we see the second thing also cleared that they that are not the Sons and Daughters of the richest and choisest Consolations of the Gospel are in no advantagious or worthy capacity to shew forth or make a declaration unto the World of the vertues or lovely things of God And if they shall attempt to do any thing in this kind they will do it to loss and disadvantage I mean comparatively in respect of what they might have done had they stood upon an higher ground of Gospel peace For otherwise in simple consideration it is most true which the Levites acknowledged Neh. 9.5 that the glorious Name of God excelleth or is exalted above all blessing and praise Consonant whereunto are these sayings of the Son of Sirach What power have we to praise him For he is above all his works Praise ye the Lord and magnifie him as much as ye can yet doth he far exceed c. Ecclus. 43.28.30 And thus we have done with the proof of that which was supposed and taken for granted in the Reason which was That it is every man's
stand bound in duty to put themselves into a capacity of the fullest and highest rewards which God hath prepared for and holdeth forth unto the Children of men Inequality of rewards in glory argued The Parable of the Penny Mat. 20. considered The advantages of late Converts Inconveniences incident to the early which yet may be avoided Dan. 12.3 in part opened 1 Cor. 3.8 Eph-6 8 Gal. 6.7 1 Cor. 15.58 Rom. 6.23 Psa 138.2 Psa 25.8 10. Mat. 13.43 Phil. 3.21 2 Tim. 4.8 Mat. 20.20 21. Rom. 9.15 Mat. 5.48 Num. 25.11 12 13. 2 Thes 1.10 Eph. 1.23 2 Pet. 1.4 1 Joh. 3.3 2 Cor. 7.1 Heb. 11.10 17 18 19 26. Heb. 12.2 Joh. 17.5 Luke 22.43 THe fifth and last Reason Sect. 1 Every man is therefore bound to be filled with the Spirit of God that so he may be capable of the fullest and highest rewards that God holdeth forth to the Sons and Daughters of men to provoke them to waies and works of greatest excellency and worth In this Reason there are two things supposed and one affirmed the two particulars supposed are these First That the rewards which God holds out to invite and incourage men unto holiness and worthiness of Conversation are different in their respective values and degrees Or if you please thus As some may do well and others do better as the Apostle supposeth 1 Cor. 7.38 so may some men be well rewarded by God for well-doing and yet others be more graciously or more bountifully rewarded by him for doing better The other thing supposed is this That every man stands bound in duty towards God to render himself capable of the richest and greatest reward which God judgeth meet to confer upon any man The thing affirmed in the Reason is this That without being filled with the Spirit men will never be found in a capacity of being thus rewarded I mean with the highest and richest rewards which God hath in store for men Let us with all the brevity that may be shew you all these from the Scriptures For the first That God intends the Collation of greater rewards upon those who shall abound in the work of the Lord more than others is clearly laid down in the Scriptures from place to place But this I say saith the Apostle to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 9.6 He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully Whether we understand this place of temporal or spiritual rewards or both of reaping in this life or in that which is to come it is of the same import thus far It plainly proves an intent and purpose in God to reward those more liberally than other men who shall quit themselves in well-doing accordingly As he rewarded Phineas the Son of Eleazer for that zealous act of his in executing judgment upon Zimri and Cozby by which he turned away his wrath from the Children of Israel Num. 25.10 11 12. above the rate of other godly persons in the same Generation with him And if God put a difference between the different walkings and services of men in matters of reward relating to this present life Why should we not conceive that he doth the like if not much more in the life and world to come at least in respect of such persons whose signal Faithfulness unto him hath not been signally recompensed before death Which is the case generally of those who are faithful unto death for righteousness sake or for the profession of the truth The Saints of old Heb. 11.35 are said not to have accepted deliverance when they were tortured meaning when it was offered them upon unworthy terms or else not to have accepted it that is not much to have desired or minded it that they might obtain and receive the better Resurrection that is the better state and condition in the Resurrection that they might rise again with so much the more glory There is one glory saith the Apostle of the Sun and another glory of the Moon and another glory of the Stars For one star differeth from another star in glory So also is the resurrection of the dead c. 1 Cor. 15.41 meaning that there will be a proportionable inequality in the glory and blessedness of the Saints in the Resurrection This exuberance or redundance of reward that we speak of is clearly held forth in the Parable of the Talents delivered out by the Master unto several Servants Mat. 25. And there is this reason why it should be so as we have now presented the case unto you why God should reward some above the line of others supposing that which we all know to be true an inequality among the Saints in zeal and service and faithfulness unto God viz. because though the Collation or bestowing of eternal life upon the Saints be in one respect an act of free grace and bounty in God in which respect it is said to be the gift of God and that which is conferred in this kind upon them is sometimes termed a reward which may be the same where services have been different if the Donor pleaseth yet in another respect this Act of God we speak of is an Act of justice of distributive or remunerative justice and so most frequently represented in the Scriptures and consequently must of necessity proceed and be carried according to all the variety and diversity of worth and excellency that shall be found in the waies and works and services of all those that shall be rewarded How and in what respect that Act of God we speak of is an Act of Free Grace or Bounty and in what respect again an Act of Justice we shall not now stand to declare because we desire to hasten upon which account also we shall at present forbear the answering of such objections or difficulties which seem to lye against and to incumber the Doctrine of inequality of rewards in glory Sect. 2 Only we shall desire your patience to speak a word or two for the clearing of the said Doctrine from having any thing in it contrary to the scope of our Saviour in that Parable Mat. 20. where those that were hired at several hours of the day to labour in the Vineyard some early in the morning some at the third hour some at the sixth some at the ninth and some at the eleventh are said notwithstanding to receive every man a Penny This Parable is so interpreted and understood by some as if it held forth such a Doctrine as this and implied that all true Believers and all true Servants of God shall be equally rewarded by God and as if this was the principle drift of it For answer hereunto First I confess and Interpreters generally acknowledge the same with me that the Parable is of a very difficult interpretation and that it is hard to draw all the parts and passages of it to a clear comportance or Coherence with that which is expressed to be the drift intent and scope of it But
the respective Labourers at what time soever called are said to have received for their labour respectively should be meant the Kingdom of Heaven or the great reward of Salvation yet neither will it follow from hence that therefore they were equally rewarded or that they had equal shares in this Kingdom All the twelve Tribes were safely brought into the Land of Canaan the well-known Type of Heaven and were planted and dwelt in it yet had they not all equal proportions of the Land assigned unto them for their respective Possessions or Inheritances Yea it is scarce questionable but that every one of their several allotments differed more or less in compass or extent of Territory from all the rest There is nothing more usual in the new Testament than to promise the recompense of reward unto all that shall persevere in Faith and Love unto the end under the same terms or expressions as sometimes of life sometimes of everlasting life sometimes of a Kingdom of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken besides many the like yet by other places some of which we shall consider ere long it plainly appeareth that there shall be some greater and some lesser in these heavenly enjoyments Every Labourer may receive his Penny and yet the Penny received by one may have more Silver in it and be more weighty upon the Ballance than that received by another although it is to be presumed that the lightest of all is full weight not only or not so much according to the standard of equity but of the greatest and most magnificent bounty According to the rule or standard of which bounty notwithstanding the great God judgeth it but equal and meet for him to reward the services done unto him by his Saints And that by the Penny which he as Lord of the Vineyard in the Parable caused to be given to the Labourers called in at several times of the day unto his work for their labour is not meant a Penny or reward simply of the same value or worth is evident from his expressions to those hired at the third hour and to those hired at the eleventh hour compared together To the former he said Go ye also into the Vineyard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and whatsoever is right or just meet or equal I will give you Upon the same terms and with the same words he hired those also that were called at the eleventh hour Go ye also c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ver. 4.7 By these expressions it is manifest that though in his expostulation with those that murmured he saith Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own c. Ver. 15. Yet he did proceed by a rule of righteousness or equity in rewarding all those that wrought in his Vineyard And proceeding by this rule in rewarding he did with his own what he willed or pleased to do for his Will was to do that which is right meet or equitable in rewarding the labours of his Servants But now it is not equitable right or meet that he that laboureth more with equal and especially with greater faithfulness unto his Master should in his reward be reduced to the proportion of him that laboureth less or with less faithfulness So that unless it shall be supposed which I presume is no man's supposal that all the Saints are uniformly or equally diligent and faithful and zealous in their servings of God it cannot be supposed that God who rewardeth them all by a rule of proportion or according to what is right or meet should reward them all alike and not consider those that have abounded in his work above those that have been more sparing and remiss in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God doth all things by Geometrical Proportions was the Saying of an ancient Philosopher Sixthly and lastly to add this also The reason why the Lord of the Vineyard gives order unto his Steward to give the Labourers their hire beginning from the last unto the first v. 8. may be to signifie that the heart of God is more set upon those who after long continuance and obduration in waies of sin and wickedness yet unfeignedly repent and turn unto him at the last than upon those that have been trained from their youth up in his service though they have not declined from it This disposition in God our Saviour seteth forth by several Parables in the Gospel as of the joy for the lost sheep that was found Luke 15.6 And so for the lost Groat or piece of Silver being found ver 9. And most Emphatically by the Parable of the Prodigal whom whilst he was yet a great way off in his return his Father ran to meet fell on his neck and kissed him with several other expressions of great affection and high contentment for his return Ver. 20 22 23 c. Upon this account it is that as the Lord Christ who perfectly understood the temper and disposition of Heaven informeth us there is more joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance And again that there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Luke 15.7.10 Doubtless the joy that is before the Angels of God ariseth proportionably to that contentment joy or satisfaction-which they observe in God himself either upon his own or his Creatures acting to his glory If it be any mans objection Sect. 6 But how doth it stand with that Rule of Equity according unto which you lately taught us that God alwaies rewardeth his Saints and Servants that his heart should be more set upon rewarding those that have of a long time done him the greatest disservice and provoked him to his face only because at last they repent and do him some service for a short time than those that have served him in righteousness and true holiness all the daies of their life I answer That such a disposition in God as this with his actings sutable to it is no waies inconsistent with the strictest Rule of Equity in rewarding Only this is to be known and considered by the way that he doth not alwaies or in all cases without exception walk according to it but only for the most part or more generally As any particular disposition in a person truly prudent and wise though never so strong may by some extraordinary circumstance intervening be sometimes over-ruled Our Saviour himself seems to intimate some such caution or restriction as that now hinted in that method of proceeding in God about the rewarding of his Saints according to which he maketh the last first and consequently the first last or giveth order to have the last called to be rewarded in the first place For when he saith Many that are first shall be last he seemeth to suppose that it will not universally so prove or that all without exception that are first shall be last but that for the most
of me but according to mine own labour diligence and faithfulness in his service that is according to what my labour c. shall by the standard of his grace and bounty amount unto If I have laboured more abundantly than they all I shall be rewarded above them all So Ephes 6.8 compared with Gal. 6.7 Knowing this speaking unto and encouraging Servants to shew all faithfulness unto their Masters to adorn the Gospel of Jesus Christ that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same he shall receive that is shall be punctually and particularly considered by God for it And so Gal. 6.7 For whatsoever a man sows the same shall he also reap It cannot reasonably be understood only of the sameness of the Seed as if his meaning was that he should reap the same kind of seed with that which he soweth as when for instance he that soweth wheat reapeth wheat so he that soweth the seed of Sanctification or of good works shall reap a harvest of Sanctification or of good works this cannot I say reasonably be judged to be the meaning of the Apostle but thus whatever a man sows that is whatever seed either for quantity or proportion or of nature and quality any man soweth as whether it be the seed of life and glory or of shame and punishment he shall reap in life and glory and so in shame and punishment accordingly Whatsoever a man soweth it doth not only import the species or kind but the degree also or the proportion of the goodness or badness of the Seed that shall be sown in any kind And so in the other place Eph. 6.8 knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free The Particle whatsoever must needs be comprehensive and distributive of all a mans good actions whether they have been hundreds or thousands or millions of thousands together with all the degrees of their several goodnesses respectively which are all exactly known unto weighed and estimated by God Now these good actions of men be they never so many for number or so excellent in worth and goodness yet the doers of them shall receive the same things of the Lord that is shall have in their reward a particular and appropriate consideration which shall answer not in strictness of justice for God doth not reward according to such a Rule but in the most gracious and bountiful esteem of God both every one of their said actions and every degree of goodness found in any of them and in them all Suppose a person who from his youth up until old age and the hour of his death should continue diligent and faithful fervent in spirit serving the Lord should receive no better or greater reward from him than he who amongst Believers shall have brought forth least fruit unto God and been coldest in his service this person could not in this case be said to receive whatsoever good thing he had done but only some few of these things viz. so many of them as shall answer in number and worth the services of the other who is supposed to have done little unless we shall say that this other shall receive of the Lord not only whatsoever good thing himself hath done but whatsoever any other hath done in this kind But this word whatsoever is as was said comprehensive and includes the whole body of a mans service and obedience or laying out of a mans self for God and for righteousness sake and implieth so many particular services so many particular rewards upon the matter For that very reward whatever it be which such a man shall receive will have all his worthy actions and services in it there will be a Crown calculated and framed by God as it were on purpose for him and fitted to his head wherein every thing that he hath done for God and upon the account of Jesus Christ will be found in a sutable weight of glory I shall insist only upon one place more at presenâ— 1 Cor. 15.38 Therefore my beloved Brethren be ye steadfast unmovable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. You see he enforceth this point of advice or exhortation to them alwaies to abound in the work of the Lord upon this motive or ground because they knew namely in their continual abounding in the work of the Lord that their labour should not be in vain in the Lord. But if we shall suppose that they that abound most of all in the labour and work of the Lord shall receive no more upon the account of such their abundant labour than they that should labour least of all being the most unprofitable of all Believers and whose Faith should be little better than an empty Vine in this case their labour namely in the excellent degree or abundance of it would be in vain that is it would turn to no account of profit or recompense of reward to him that should undergo the burthen of it For certainly the Apostle reminding them that their labour in the Lord how abundant soever should not be in vain doth not speak of the fruit or success of such their labour in the world as that they might or should do good unto or convert many by such their example or the like but of the bettering their own accounts at the Great Day giving them to understand that if they should nor slack their hand in so great and blessed a business they should consult honour and glory in abundance for themselves in the day of Christ Now if you please let us add to the Scriptures opened and argued a few reasons to strengthen your Faith yet further in the Point in hand First Such a dispensation of God as his conferring of rewards with an equal inequality giving greater things to those that do more and be more faithful Such a dispensation I say as this being proclaimed in the midst of the World hath more spirit and life in it to provoke and strengthen every mans heart and hand unto Godliness and this in the highest degree than to declare that they that sow most sparingly shall notwithstanding reap as plentifully as they who sow most liberally For such a declaration as this in effect they ascribe unto God who make him a distributor of rewards without any distinction of the services rewarded by him But doubtless such a Notion or Doctrine as this That all Believers shall fare alike is of a dangerous and quashing import to the spirit of all signal excellency and of a destructive antipathy to all heroick conceptions of Christianity When men have an opportunity to raise an estate and get wealth for themselves How will they rise early and go to bed late and eat the bread of carefulness They will be more industrious by far than when they work only for stinted wages which they know they shall have whether they work little
Cor. 15.8 but certain it is that he was born an Apostle and came into the work of God some considerable space of time after all his fellows yet we know he laboured more abundantly there than they all 1 Cor. 15.10 In like manner they that were called at the eleventh hour might do as much good and acceptable service as those that were called early And therefore no marvel if they received equal consideration for their work with these Besides God represented by the Lord of the Vineyard estimateth as we know the frame of the heart and inward disposition of the mind into the outward works and services of men So that the body and bulk as it were of their services may be fair and large when as the spirit of their value and acceptation with God may not answer by much and yet their persons nor services be wholly rejected neither As on the other hand where the hidden man of the heart is beautiful and lovely in his sight a performance or service which is but slender and ordinary in appearance may be highly prized and accepted of by him and this according to the most exact Rules of Justice Reason and Equity Christ pronounced a just and true Sentence when he said that the poor Widow who cast in only two Mites into the Treasury had cast in more than all the rich men who yet are said to have cast in much Mar. 12.41 43. Now it is not improbable but that by the early-called into the Vineyard may be set forth such a kind of Christian or Believer who savours much of the justiciary and legal spirit and is commonly active and zealous enough in his way for God but inclined to a rugged harsh and peremptory temper which unpleasant complexion and frame of heart though it doth not make void their Faith nor exclude them from the saving love of God yet it much abates and brings down the value and esteem of their outward services and performances with him So that Believers of a more Evangelical sweet and Christian constitution and frame of soul may equalize them in acceptance with God although they have not had time or opportunity to equalize them in the one half of their external services If it be yet urged and said But the Lord of the Vineyard doth not alledge against the early-called either any defect in them or in their work or labour nor any thing more commendable in those called at the eleventh hour as any reason why he should make these equal in reward unto them but only his will and pleasure I will give unto this last even as unto thee c. ver 14. From whence it seems that the will and good pleasure of God is the only Rule by which the Saints are rewarded and that by this Rule they shall be rewarded equally whether their works have been more or fewer more or less excellent according to any computation I answer These words from the Lord of the Vineyard to one of the first-called in the name of them all I will give unto this last even as unto thee c. do not at all prove either that the Will of God is the sole Rule by which the Saints shall be rewarded or that no consideration to the difference of their works whether they have been more or fewer more or less excellent shall be had therein They only prove that God typified in the Lord of the Vineyard will not acquaint proud quarrelsome or high minded persons with the Counsels of his Will or Reasons of his Doings especially with such as are more secret but will put them off with telling them what his peremptory Will is and an asserting the justness and lawfulness of it even as men likewise are wont to do by persons of a like evil temper whereas they are willing and free to give account of matters unto those that are ingenuous and of good spirits And this disposition is found in God himself according to these sayings of David The meek he will guide in judgment that is he will acquaint him with the grounds and reasons of all that he requires of him to do the meek he will teach his way viz. by shewing him the goodness and desirableness of it Psal 25.9 So again The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ver 14. And Prov. 3.32 His secret is with the righteous God is most wont to communicate things of a more spiritual and mysterious cognizance but only unto those that are of meek and yielding spirits and reverently affected towards him So that it is no marvel if the Lord of the Vineyard would give no other reason but his will unto persons that were evil-spirited and contentious of such a dispensation as seemed hard unto them although he was able and ready to give reason enough thereof otherwise This for answer to the second Objection The third and last Objection Sect. 12 which pleads against all preheminence amongst the Saints in glory is taken from such Scriptures which intitle the Saints indefinitely taken or the whole species of them not only unto the same glory but unto such glory greater than which none can lightly be imagined The places of this import are these with others Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 So where it is said of Christ Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body c. Phil. 3.21 So again to mention no more where the Apostle Paul having said Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that last day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearance 2 Tim. 4.8 All these Texts of Scripture speak of the Saints in general and without any differencing some from others by way of greater excellency and yet they promise unto them all shining like the Sun in their Fathers Kingdom and having their vile bodies changed by Christ and fashioned like unto his own glorious body the receiving Crowns of righteousness from God as well as Paul himself Which all seem to be expressions of as great glory as the greatest of Saints are capable of Therefore it is not to be conceived that one Saint shall differ from another in glory But To this also I answer That these and the like places only prove an identity or sameness in the species or kind of that glory whereof all the Saints shall be partakers not that they shall all partake of this glory in the same degree They shall all shine with a Sun-like lustre and brightness and yet some out-shine others The Sun it self doth not alwaies shine forth with the same lustre and glory Debora Judg. 5.31 prayeth that those that love God may be as the Sun when he riseth or goeth forth in his might which supposeth that sometimes he riseth with a weaker and less glorious splendour Yea it is said that
of him I mean they made very little breach upon his comfort or peace he was upon the matter as well apaid in himself even when the pains of hell as David speaketh i. e. fear or apprehensions of Death or the Grave compassed him about as when the Sun of outward peace and prosperity shone with the greatest brightness upon him This might be made to appear from the many passages in his own writings as 2 Cor. 4.16 6.10 Now how lovely and above measure desirable a priviledge is it to have an heart that cannot be pierced that cannot be wounded by the sharpest Arrows that can be drawn out of the Quiver of this World I shall not need to teach or inform you I make no question but that you have a very vigorous and lively notion or impression of it within you however something may be added to this Point hereafter So then you see another thing very considerable in a being filled with the Spirit the diligent working of which upon your hearts and souls must needs make you covetous after it Thirdly Your being filled with the Spirit Sect. 11 will be unto you as an entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the Apostle Peter speaketh 2 Pet. 1.11 And this in these three respects highly desirable First In respect of an excellent measure and degree of righteousness and true holiness Secondly In respect of a like measure or degree of inward and sound peace Thirdly and lastly in respect of that measure of joy also wherewith the heart and soul must needs be filled thereby The Apostle Paul we know Rom. 14.17 placeth the Kingdom of God in these three Righteousness Peace and Joy in or through the Holy Ghost The Kingdom of God saith he is not meat and drink but Righteousness c. By the Kingdom of God he means nothing else but the same thing the same Kingdom which Peter calls the Everlasting Kingdom c. Only Paul seemeth to speak as well of it in respect of the manner and behaviour as of the Priviledges and Happiness of the Subjects thereof the Apostle Peter either only or chiefly mentions it in respect of the latter This then is that we say that in respect of both as well in respect of that heavenly deportment or behaviour which is Universally used and practiced in this Kingdom expressed by the Apostle Paul in the word Righteousness as in respect of the Priviledges and great Felicity signified in the other two words Joy and Peace in the Holy Ghost In respect I say of both your being filled with the Spirit will give you an entrance in abundance into this Kingdom i. e. will put you into such a state and condition wherein you shall have a rich taste or rather plentiful first Fruits of the glory and blessedness of that Kingdom This entrance in abundance which we speak of into the Everlasting Kingdom shall by your being filled with the Spirit be given unto you First In respect of that Righteousness or Excellency of Conversation whereby the Subjects of this Kingdom maintain themselves in the felicity and enjoyment of it and whereby they are discernable from other persons For when and whilest the Spirit of God dwelleth richly and plentifully in you he will kindle and raise up strong and excellent Inclinations Potent and Prince like Resolutions within you unto waies and works of Righteousness and true Holiness Inclinations and Resolutions in this kind that will not be baffled or turned out of the way by every gust of Temptation as the Purposes and Resolutions of the same Denomination in the generality of Professours in whom the Spirit dwelleth in a lower degree only are subject to be but will hold on their course in waies of Righteousness As a good Ship running with all her Sails displayed before a stiff Gale of Wind will cut through the waves and troublesome workings of the Seas taking no notice of them Even so when a man is filled with the Spirit he is as it were tied and bound hand and foot that he cannot lightly move or stir out of the waies which the Spirit it self commendeth unto him and seeketh to guide his feet unto As Paul being filled with the Spirit Acts 20.22 Behold saith he I now go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there I go bound in the Spirit That is the Spirit of God hath wrought such a mighty Desire and Resolution in me to go to Jerusalem that my Mind and Conscience will not serve me so much as to deliberate or argue the case within me whether I had best to go or no. As a man that is bound hand and foot where and in what posture you leave him there you shall find him especially if his bands be strong and close drawn and fast tied they will keep him from motion In like manner he that is filled with the Spirit is much in the same case or condition spiritually he cannot act or move but only as the Spirit acteth and moveth him When the Apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost as they were in the day of Pentecost Acts 2.4 they could not speak what they pleased or listed but saith the Text they began to speak with other Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance they were bound in the Spirit from speaking viz. from speaking any thing but what the Spirit pleased As Paul was not bound in the Spirit from doing any thing or going any where at all but from going any whither but to Jerusalem which was the place the Spirit moved him to go unto In like manner when men and women are filled with the Spirit in the sense of the Text in hand they are inwardly bound and straitned from walking or moving in all other waies save only those wherein they are guided by himself which are only waies of Rigteousness and Holiness Now then to walk in waies of Righteousness to walk uniformly constantly and only in these waies I mean without any scandalous or self-allowed deviation this must needs be conceived to be an entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in respect of the Righteousness of it Now to be at this pass that we shall not only walk in waies of Righteousness but to do it without any manner of regret nay without much noise striving or reluctancy from our hearts or from our flesh within us This is one of the first born of Priviledges and my Brethren if there were nothing else in being filled with the Spirit but this only viz. that you shall be enabled hereby to walk after an excellent rate to keep the very Battlements of Heaven to walk holily and humbly with your God by excellency of righteousness and to shine in the beauty of Holiness whilst you live is a matter that would make it worthy your labour and of all that can be required of you to possess your souls
things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self c. Now do but compare the latter And when he Agabus was come unto us he took Paul's Girdle and bound his own hands and feet and said Thus saith the Holy Ghost so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that oweth this Girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles Upon the hearing of these things they besought him not to go up to Jerusalem and ver 13. Then answered Paul what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart For I am not only ready to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus As who should say Are you aware how blessed a business I have in hand and of how evil a tendency this your advice and this your weeping is Why saith he do ye break my heart I am all thoughts made in my felf I have no regret within me as to this service of going to Jerusalem and therefore why do you by your weeping as you do go about to dissolve and scatter that blessed and composed frame of heart which I have wrought my self unto For saith he I have not only a light willingness but I am set upon the work whatever it cost me I am not only ready to suffer such things as Bonds Imprisonment c. but I am even ready to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus I have reasons in abundance to balance against all the counter-arguings of my Flesh my Friends and Relations I have trampled them all under my feet so that I have no more to think of or to debate what to do in this case but am in an actual readiness as to this business So then you see that being filled with the Spirit of God how it removeth all obstructions out of the way of men and women in the Service of God It causeth every thing to cease from being burthensome or hard unto them It is with a man or woman that is filled with the Spirit of God in respect of their natural indispositions or aversness to the high and difficult Services of God as it is between the inferiour Orbs or Spheres in the Heavens and that utmost Sphere which Philosophers call Primum Mobile the First Mover the motion of this Sphere according to the notion they have of it and probable it is true in reason however it is very apt and proper to represent the business which we desire to possess you with is so incredible swift and strong that it carries about all the other with it notwithstanding their propensions and these very strong too in their kind unto different yea contrary motions but that same Primum Mobile carries them along with it in its own motion and course taking no notice viz. of any repugnancy in them to such a motion or comportance with it but carries them about as if they were all agreed and naturally consenting to go along with it Much after the same manner it is between a great presence or fulness of the Holy Ghost in the soul and that natural indisposition or averseness of the Flesh to waies and services of a difficult and excellent import The Holy Ghost being gloriously potent and mighty in his motions and way overbears and oversets the natural Propensions and the repugnant and cross inclinations of the Flesh to such services and works and carries these along with him in his course by reason whereof they seem willing also and consenting to what is done or to be done in that kind Or look as it is between the Tide or flowing in of the Sea and the course of the River or fresh waters upon which it comes we know the natural course of the River and the waters thereof is contrary to the course of the Sea and the waters thereof when it flows yet because the Sea moves with more authority viz. with more strength and irresistibleness of motion than the River doth it takes along the waters of the River with it in its course and these seem to be as willing with the motion as the Sea it self and the waters thereof nor is there any contrariety or averseness or reluctancy to the motion discerned in these fresh waters whilst they are under the authority and conduct of the Salt After such a manner it is between the flesh of a man and the averseness that is there unto things that are of a spiritual nature When a man is filled with the Spirit of God this carrieth all down before him and that after such a manner as that the Flesh forgetteth all hardness and difficulty that is in its way in the Service of God and so forbears all swelling or rising up against it This then in the fifth place is another worthy Priviledge that doth attend your being filled with the Spirit Sixthly Your being filled with the Spirit will enlarge your hearts mightily unto waies and works that are excellent Sect. 16 It will make you like unto Jesus Christ in true Nobleness and Prince-like disposition of Spirit and cause you to fall in travel with the World until the peace comfort and prosperity of it be provided for and established round about you This accommodation and benefit differs from the former and carrieth somewhat in it above that That consisted in a reconciling or healing the disproportion which commonly is between the hearts or natural dispositions of men and the waies especially the more high and excellent waies of God This consists in an effectual drawing out of the heart and soul unto such waies and services in setting an edge of zeal upon the Spirits of men to be like unto the Vine in Jotham's Parable Judg. 9.13 which is there said to chear both God and man A man may possibly be free from any great averseness or indisposedness to such or such an action or course and yet be but of a kind of neutral and indifferent frame of heart have no great or zealous propension towards them But he that is zealous of good works as the Scripture speaks hath not only the contrariety and averseness of his nature unto such works subdued and broken within him but hath an inclination unto them stirred up and wrought in him so that as a strong Bias in a Boule his heart leaneth and longeth that way So then this is that which I hold forth unto you in the particular now in hand If you shall be filled with the Spirit you will hereby be enriched with many noble excellent and worthy dispositions of heart and soul which will lead and carry you forth with a strong hand upon all occasions to works and actions of an high and sacred import It will relieve you against the natural scantness and narrowness of your hearts in this kind and cause you with Abraham to be numbred amongst the Friends of God and Benefactors to the World and no opportunity of doing good shall escape you It will cause you to look upon your selves with
own inability for this work we are about 1 Chron. 22.16 Arise saith David to his Son Solomon therefore and be doing and the Lord be with thee He doth not say stay untill the Lord doth come unto thee but arise and be doing So that this is the first thing to be done we must lay all thoughts of Confidence aside of any sufficiency as of our selves Secondly We must turn our selves towards the Holy Ghost with the like serious and thorough and unfeigned acknowledgment of a sufficiency in him that strength which we disclaimed in our selves we must ascribe unto him We know that the Lord Christ still requireth this acknowledgment from those who obtain any great Request as to any great matters Believe ye that I am able to do this Saith he to the blind men that came to him to be healed Mat. 9.28 So again Mar. 9.23 24. If thou canst believe all these things are possible c. The Father of the Child answered Lord I believe help my unbelief So then here is another thing whereby to interest the Holy Ghost in what we go about namely that we do acknowledge a sufficiency in the Holy Ghost But then Thirdly Sect. 4 We must acknowledge a readiness and willingness and a gracious inclinableness in the Holy Ghost to help and assist us in those things wherein it is any waies meet for him to interpose on our behalf He who doth unfeignedly acknowledge his own weakness and doth address himself unto him shall be sure to find his assistance Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities c. There is a very rich and compassionate inclination in the Holy Ghost towards the Saints in respect of the great infirmities which he discerneth in them to assist stand by and relieve them in their holy endeavours To help them to perform things in an holy and humble manner upon terms of acceptation It is a usual Dialect in Scripture when the Act is expressed by the means or course that usually is taken to effect it As Joh. 1.9 Christ is said to enlighten every man that cometh into the World because he affordeth them such means and taketh such a course with them which is proper to enlighten them Even so the Spirit helpeth our infirmities that is he is ready to help our infirmities toties quoties as oft as ever he is sought unto as if he should say The Spirit knoweth how unable men are for such Actions and Services and therefore out of a kind of compassion and Sympathy in respect of their weakness he is ready to help them These gracious inclinations in him are apt to advance and express themselves in their might and power when the Creature is under a full knowledge and sense of its own weakness and a full acknowledgement of this readiness and willingness of the Spirit of God to help and to relieve The poor committeth himself unto thee Thou art the helper of the Fatherless Psal 10.14 Meaning that when the poor do commit themselves unto God then he is ready to help them there is a Synechdoche of the Species for the Genius By Fatherless he doth mean those that be not in any capacity to help themselves Now they that are under a sense that they are not able to help themselves by reason of their Poverty God is wont to come in to their relief and succour So when a man or a woman is smitten with the sense of their weakness in being not able to hold out in these services if they shall have recourse to the Spirit of God as their helper this is a Signal given unto the Spirit and he taketh the Alarm and he cometh and sheweth himself in his strength unto the Creature All these three means for the interessing of the Spirit in our Services I conceive our Saviour himself Joh. 14.16 17. chiefly pointeth at and asserteth I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him c. The World cannot receive the Holy Ghost because it seeth him not neither knoweth him that is because they have no manner of sense or discerning of him in any such property wherein he desireth to be known For we should have given notice of that though there be a presence of the Spirit of God in men in the state of Nature or Unregeneracy yet the Scriptures do nor speak of the Spirits dwelling in men nor of a mans receiving the Spirit untill they receive him in a greater measure or after the manner in which Believers receive him and as he is when he doth advance his presence in an excellent degree in them to put them upon Actions of an excellent concernment But that only by the way The World cannot receive the Holy Ghost because it seeth him not neither knoweth him that is because it hath no manner of discerning of him or at least no distinct or clear knowledge of him A man may have the sight of a Person but that deserveth not the name of the knowledge of him But when a man cometh to understand of what temper or frame he is either in respect of wisdom or goodness or as to matter of Estate or the like then he is properly said to know a man when he knoweth such things as these of him It is the manner of the Scripture to express Gradations after such a manner as this so He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth so here the World neither seeth him nor knoweth him that is they have not seen him much less have they any considerate knowledge of him And when our Saviour giveth the true reason why the World did not or cannot receive him meaning that they cannot according to that Principle by which the Spirit of God is resolved to give out himself i. e. they cannot go beyond God's Declaration they cannot break the Bars of Gods Decree nor the Method by which he is purposed to dispose of his own Spirit This deep ignorance which the men of the World have concerning the Holy Ghost is the reason why they cannot receive him in any supernatural or in any saving manner they cannot receive the indwellings or the inhabitation of him so as to receive strength to perform services in any spiritual or acceptable manner before God for otherwise they are capable of receiving of the Spirit in a way of common illumination They are capable of receiving of him in another sense though they are not capable of receiving him in such a manner as he is to be received so as to be led by him into the waies of life By the light of this Discourse we see that they who are not convinced of the necessity both of the presence of the Spirit of God to help them and likewise of his sufficiency and readiness and willingness to afford his presence with them are under a kind of incapacity
Or else secondly Relatively I mean in reference to other things to certain ends or purposes which are not essential unto the work In the former consideration or sense a work is said to be perfect when it is so well and perfectly performed that no degrees of perfection are wanting or can be added to it In the latter sense a work is said to be perfect when it is wrought after such a manner or upon such terms that it accommodates some ends and purposes of greater weight and moment than a sudden or present perfection of the work it self To explain this distinction a little and then briefly to apply it God we know in the course of Nature though as the Apostle saith he giveth to every Seed it s own body yet he doth this gradually As our Saviour in his Parable Mar. 4.28 expresseth it concerning the Seed or Grain of Corn First the blade then the ear and then the ripe or full corn in the Ear. Now the work of Providence in bringing the Seed that is sown thus by degrees to perfection is in this respect at first and for a time after viz. until the ripe Corn in the Ear imperfect because after the springing up of the Blade and after the Ear there remains somewhat further to be done to bring there to their natural and due perfection i.e. to be ripe Corn in the Ear. But now look upon this work of Providence in another consideration viz. as it is subservient to such ends and purposes as God projecteth to bring to pass by it viz. to exercise the Faith and Patience of the Husbandman in waiting upon him a convenient space for the receiving the fruit of his Labour and so to display his own Wisdom in the orderly Progression of Nature or second causes and so it is perfect all along from first to last and under every degree or advance of it and would have been less perfect in case it had been carried on and wrought otherwise I mean in case the Seed that is sown should presently upon the sowing be brought to perfection or full Corn in the Ear. Though this had been perfect in the former consideration yet in the latter it would have been imperfect and so would not have accommodated the Husbandman in his waiting with patience Now to apply the distinction All the works of the Spirit in men the work of Faith the work of Repentance or Mortification c. They are all perfect in the latter sense but not in the former We read in the Scripture as well of a little Faith as of a great Faith and a little Faith is the work of the Spirit as well as that which is great Yet a little Faith simply considered is an imperfect work because many degrees remain to be added to it to perfect or complete it but in the latter consideration the work of a little Faith in men and so of a lower degree of Mortification is as perfect a work as a greater The Reason is because the Spirit in working a work of little Faith and not of greater accommodates the righteous and wise Counsel or Design of God viz. in rewarding mens Labour Diligence and Faithfulness proportionably to their degrees not making those who have been less diligent and faithful though both in some degree equal unto those who have abounded in these above their Fellows Now we know the Wisdom and the Holiness of God have in consultation the promotion of Godliness in the World upon the highest and best terms that may be And among many waies and means wherein the God of Grace doth intend to express himself for the promoting this great Design of his there is no means more effectual than this way viz. That those who will be more diligent and more laborious and more faithful and shall more and more apply themselves to the use of such and such means that they shall be invested with such and such Priviledges in a greater measure Whereas if God should do that upon any use of means viz. if they shall pray once a month or hear the Word once a month if God shall give as much and as rich a presence of himself unto such a person as unto him who shall be diligent in the use of means Then or by means of such a procedure God should pull down that with one hand which he endeavoureth to build up with the other and would by such a course take men off from the use of means for Who would give double or treble to procure that which he might have at a lower rate This for a third sign or means of discerning who are filled with the Spirit a deep and effectual work of Mortification Fourthly Sect. 14 Another thing which argueth a man or woman to be filled with the Spirit of God is some worthy degree of Holiness where a Spirit of holiness breaths uniformly and with an equal tenour of life and conversation in the World We have heretofore shewed what holiness in the sense we now speak of it is viz. a gracious impression or propension enclining the heart and soul where it resideth unto waies and actions eminently righteous and just with a real abhorrency of the contrary or of whatsoever is sinful Indeed that holiness which we now speak of seemeth chiefly to consist in the latter A real loathing abhorring and detesting what is sinful and unclean Psal 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his waies and holy in all his works Righteous in all his waies i. e. All his waies and works and dispensations all his interposures in the World with every Creature are all righteous and just He meaneth just in such a sense as men are able to call just for else to what purpose was it to inform the World that God was just and righteous and then to mean it to be such a kind of Justice and Righteousness which men cannot understand And holy in all his works I suppose it is according to the manner of the Scriptures where usually in the latter Clause of the Verse there is some Explication made of the former And so here the Holy Ghost having said The Lord is righteous in all his waies he addeth and he is holy in all his works As if he had said He is not simply in all that he doth just and regular No but he doth abhor with a perfect hatred all things that are contrary We know a man may do a thing out of such or such an affection or disposition or in reference to such an end that he would provide for and accomplish and yet possibly he may do the contrary But now saith David concerning God there is such a mighty propensity and going out of his heart and soul to holiness in all his works that he cannot do otherwise he hath the greatest abhorrency in his nature to do otherwise As the Wiseman saith in the Proverbs It is joy to the upright to do justly that is the Propensions of their heart and soul
and Exhortations teach the Sons and Daughters of men such a deportment and demeanour of themselves in all cases and under all circumstances that will set them off with the best and highest acceptation with men for every Command and Precept of his hath a kind of pleasant correspondence with the frame and condition of man and when men and women neglect the performance of any of them in their season or shall do any thing contrary unto them they render themselves so much the less lovely and desirable No man ever neglected any of the Commands of God but that by every such neglect ipso facto they stain and spot the dignity and excellency of their glory whereas if they had been true to themselves and to their own interest in yielding obedience to those Commands of God they would have been more lovely comely and pleasant and more highly accepted both with God and amongst men The Holy Ghost himself very frequently commends obedience and subjection unto the Laws of God under this very Notion we now speak of unto men My Son saith Solomon Prov. 1.8 9. hear the Instruction of thy Father and forsake not the Law of thy Mother For they shall be an Ornament of grace upon thy head and Chains upon thy neck meaning that Instructions from the Word of God administred unto us by our Parents and those that be over us being regarded and submitted unto by us will render us lovely and respected both of God and men So again Prov. 3.22 So shall she meaning Wisdom submitted unto be life unto thy soul and grace unto thy neck She shall be an Ornament of Grace unto thy head c. So again 1 Tim. 2.9 10. The Apostle in this Contexture of Scripture sheweth how women professing Godliness ought to behave themselves in all Modesty Shamefac'dness and Sobriety accompanied with good works these namely good works are comely Ornaments as well for men as for women And it is the property of good works and all manner of conforming to the Will of God to make a kind of noise in the World and to provoke men to look upon them who are found fruitful in them Even as rich Jewels do make and beget by their Lustre a kind of high esteem and reverence in men to persons who wear them In like manner they who shall adorn themselves with works of righteousness by submitting to the Commands of God shall by such waies be known to be the Sons of God even by the richness of those Ornaments and Jewels which hang about their necks Mat. 3.15 It becometh us saith our Lord Christ to fulfill all Righteousness as who should say This is the way that would advance and adorn him and make him more comely in the sight of God his Father and of Angels and of Men. And so Rom. 16.2 That ye receive her in the Lord speaking of Phebe as becometh Saints and that ye assist her c. My Brethren there is no occasion no business nothing to be done either abroad or at home when a man is sitting in his house or speaking to his Servants or any other persons but there is an opportunity for such a kind of behaviour which will well become us and which will set us off with a kind of comliness or loveliness in the eyes of those which are about us This then is the first thing which we commend unto you by way of Instruction That if it be a Duty imposed by God upon all men especially Believers to be filled with the Spirit then is it a comly and honourable thing for men and women to be filled with the Spirit and to walk accordingly by means whereof they shall find acceptation both in Heaven and in Earth Secondly Sect. 2 If it be the Will and Command of God that all Believers especially should be filled with the Spirit of God take we further knowledge from hence that there are some Duties and these of most worthy consequence and concernment unto men unto which the minds and consciences of men even of Professours themselves are generally asleep taking little notice of them or of yielding obedience unto them they do not put them into their Roll or Catalogue of Duties or things commanded or enjoyned For first That this Precept of God which enjoyns a being filled with the Spirit of God directed more particularly unto the Saints is a Precept of very high concernment unto them hath been made to appear formerly and particularly when we gave directions how to raise an ardent desire in your souls unto it by setting before you the various and most rich accommodations which do alwaies accompany such a fulness Secondly That this Precept notwithstanding the excellency of it is little in the thoughts of Believers themselves and that their Consciences are little better than dead unto it is too too evident from the general neglect that is found amongst them of the use of the means which are proper to fill them accordingly without the diligent use whereof it is impossible they should be obedient unto the Precept as we have heretofore opened the business unto you and besides the little regard of this Precept even amongst Believers themselves is apparent more than enough from the general tenour of their actions and waies which are nothing like the actions and waies of men filled with the Spirit And as it is with this Precept of being filled with the Spirit in being so generally neglected and forgotten by Believers So is it with several other also which share in the same disrespect at the hand of Believers with it viz. as That of walking circumspectly or exactly as the word signifies That of redeeming the time in respect of the evil of the daies wherein we live That of bearing one anothers burthens That of not respecting persons for their wealth and costly cloaths That which enjoyns rich men to be rich in good works These with some others as generally all such which grate hard upon the flesh and require a spiritual Heroickness and true greatness of spirit to submit unto them and which are not sanctioned or back'd with an express threatning of exclusion from the Kingdom of God and of Salvation in case of disobedience Most of the Precepts of any of these Characters are like some absolute and antiquated Laws or Statutes in a State or Commonwealth which through a long customary and general disuse and neglect are no more minded or regarded than if they were not nor persons any waies challenged charged or thought the worse of for not conforming themselves unto them So are such Precepts of Christianity which respect excellency of walking and have not the vengeance of hell fire attending them to awaken the Consciences of men to the observance They seem to be no otherwise looked upon by Professours than as if they were given by the Lord Christ only to be gazed on and looked at and not with any intent that they should be obeyed by men or with any expectation
that seem streight which is crooked and to justifie that which is to be condemned I mean their practice of turning aside from the Ministry of the Gospel is that the Ministers in these daies do not cannot work miracles as the Apostles did and therefore they do not hear them This Pretext hath less in it than either of the former For where doth the Scripture make the want of a gift of working Miracles in them that preach the Gospel a ground or reason why men should not hear them It is expresly said Joh. 10.41 of John the Baptist that he wrought no Miracles yet the Lord Christ said of him Joh. 5.35 That he was a burning and a shining light and it was prophesyed of him by an Angel from heaven That he should turn many of the Children of Israel unto the Lord their God and that he should be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mothers womb Luke 1.15 Nor do we read that Timothy had the gift of working Miracles yet Paul chargeth him before God and the Lord Jesus who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearance and Kingdom That he should preach the Word that he be instant in season and out of season that he should reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine 2 Tim. 4.1 2. And as we lately heard assureth him that by taking heed unto himself and to his Doctrine by a continuing therein he should both save himself and those who should hear him 1 Tim. 4.16 Again the men with whom we have to do are not willing to be looked upon as Infidels or Unbelievers if not then what have they to do with Miracles or Miracles wiht them Prophesying or Preaching without Miracles is for them who do believe wherefore Tongues saith the Apostle speaking of Tongues extraordinarily and miraculously given are for a sign not to them that do believe but to them that believe not but Prophesying serveth not for them that believe not but for them which believe 1 Cor. 14.22 So that men and women who own the Gospel to be a truth and to come from God need no Sign or Miracle but an effectual opening and applying this Gospel in the several parts and branches of it unto them By the way when the Apostle saith that Tongues are not for a sign to those that believe but to those that believe not he doth not mean as if those who do believe could receive no benefit or edification by Signs or Miracles but only meer Infidels For doubtless they who do believe may receive a confirmation and encrease of their Faith from Signs As the Disciples of Christ themselves are said to have believed on him with a new Faith or a Faith renewed and encreased for they did believe on him before upon his first Miracle of turning Water into Wine Joh. 2.11 But the Apostles meaning is that Miracles or Signs are not so necessary for those who do already believe though but in part As for those who are wholly unbelieving the reason is because they who are wholly Infidels and unbelieving are Neglecters or Despisers if not professed Enemies and Opposers of the Gospel and therefore they stand in need of more than ordinary means for their awakening and conviction and it would be in vain to open or apply any part of the Gospel unto them who peremptorily reject the whole Whereas when a man so far believeth that he owneth the Gospel in general as from God the rational unfolding and effectual applying of particulars unto him cannot but conduce much to his edification Again Whereas it is said that Prophesying serveth not for those that believe not but for those that do believe the meaning is not as if Prophesying or Preaching of the Gospel even where Signs and Miracles are wanting might not work upon those who are wholly unbelieving to their conversion The Apostle himself plainly enough supposeth the contrary two or three verses after but Prophesying serveth not or is not for those who do not believe i.e. serveth not so effectually the necessities and spiritual exigences of professed Infidels as it doth the interest and occasions of them who do in part believe Comparative senses or meanings are frequently in Scripture expressed in absolute and positive terms as heretofore upon like occasion we have from time to time signified unto you and given you several instances I shall only add two or three things more briefly by way of further answer to te pretense concerning the necessity of working Miracles by Ministers in these daies First That Miracles Sect. 14 in case Ministers of the Gospel in these daies had the gift of them would not convert men at least not such who are hardned in their unbelief and maliciously bent in their spirits against the Gospel This is evident from what we read Joh. 12.37 For though he had done so many Miracles before them yet they believed not on him We see here that not simply Miracles but that Miracle upon Miracle many Miracles abundance of Miracles sometimes wil not do the deed will not so far convince men as to prevail with them to believe So again Mat. 11.20 21 c. Then began he to upbraid the Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Woe unto thee Corazin c. Here we read of several Cities which had the help and advantage not of Miracles simply but of mighty Miracles mighty works yea and of great variety of these wherein he had done most of his mighty works yea of sundry mighty Miracles wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ himself who questionless wrought them upon terms of all possible advantage to make them effectual for the ends for which they were wrought in which respect I conceive it is that they amongst whom they were wrought are said to be lifted up to heaven Yet I say there was not so much as any one of all these Cities that were thus filled with great Miracles with mighty Works that repented or were brought over to believe in Christ by means of them If the men therefore now under reproof were gratified in their importune desire as the murmuring Israelites sometimes were in theirs when God gave them flesh till it came out again at their nostrils So if these men had their fill of miracles from the Ministers of the Gospel it is a question whether these would have any saving influence upon them or no. And the reason to add this by the way because we are upon a point that we seldom have occasion to handle why Miracles may very possibly do little good where there is a strong Antipathy against the Gospel may be this viz. because when men are greatly averse from believing or repenting they are not like to bestow any serious or intense consideration upon the means by which they should be brought to do either but rather to pass lightly and slightly by them especially if they can find out any colour or pretense to disparage them
and so to arm their Judgments and Consciences against them This was the reason doubtless why none of the Cities in which Christ had wrought most of his Miracles and mighty Works were drawn to repentance hereby And so likewise why so few of the Scribes and Pharisees believed in him notwithstanding so many Miracles wrought before their eyes it was the marvelous averseness both to his Doctrine and Person that quickly took off their minds and thoughts from such things whether words or works which they found medling or dealing with their Consciences that way I mean which they found in any degree enclining them to believe on him so that these means could not have their perfect work upòn their souls For whether words or works they must be kept for some time upon the mind and intellectual faculties of the soul before they can accomplish any transmutation or change there It is a common Maxime in Philosophy that no motion is effected or brought to pass in an instant There must be time for the strongest Physick to work for there is some averseness in the body against it So before there can be any such repentance and believing in the soul the means by which this must be effected must have some time to work upon the understanding and therefore if they be thrown by so soon as they begin to work the blessed change will never succeed or take place Or else because there are lying and false Miracles as well as true and very strange things are sometimes done by Magick Sorcery and by the help of Devils and the like therefore they satisfie themelves with a like conceit that the great works of Christ were of this bastard kind of Miracles and so maintained and hardned themselves in their Unbelief all his great Works and Miracles notwithstanding And I remember it was the opinion of one of the Ancient Fathers that Judas thought that his Lord and Master wrought all his great Cures and Works only by the Art of Magick and the Jews have such a conceipt of him at this day So then Miracles if the Ministers of the Gospel in these daies had the gift of them might possibly little accommodate the men who under a pretense it is to be feared so impatiently call for them Secondly Sect. 15 It argueth men and women to be of a very unworthy frame of heart and much estranged in mind and spirit from God and from the things appertaining unto him to require or stand in need of Miracles for their Conviction and Conversion to the Faith This is evident from that of our Saviour Joh. 4.48 Except ye see Signs and Wonders ye will not believe It is evident that these words are objurgatory striking at such a spirit or frame of heart in the persons to whom they were spoken Except yet see signs c. As if he had said ye Jews are of such an ill spirit and frame of heart that such means which are in themselves sufficient to perswade or bring men to believe sufficient to prevail in this kind with persons of any tolerable disposition Godward as such heavenly and authoritative teachings from holy and worthy men are these will do no execution will not convince you but you must have such means used and applied to work upon you to do you any good which are sufficient to break the Iron sinews of the most prophane stiff-necked and obdurate Infidel under heaven you must see Signs yea Wonders or Prodigies of Signs Men that are in any degree ingenuous and willing to walk up to these lower and more common principles of truth which are by nature planted in them or desirous in the least to understand and submit to the truth they stand in no need of Signs and Wonders to satisfie and convince them of the truth I mean of the truth of a more spiritual and sublime nature but only of a lightsome and rational discovery of such truth As the wood that is dry will readily take the fire and burn only by putting coals of fire to it whereas that which is green requireth much puffing and blowing and many times will not burn at last though all this means he used to it Therefore the persons that must have Miracles and say they cannot edifie they cannot profit by the Ministers of the Gospel in these daies because they cannot work Miracles their own tongues fall upon them as Davids Expression is by such sayings they plainly declare themselves to be persons much estranged from God to bear little love to the truth Our Saviour in the Gospel calleth the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 12.39 16.4 An evil and adulterous Generation for seeking after a Sign or Miracle for their satisfaction about the truth of his Doctrine having occasion to speak upon the same account unto the generality of people He leaves out the word Adulterous only styling them Luke 11.29 An evil Generation for seeking after a sign Why doth our Saviour call the Scribes and Pharisees and so the Sadduces not simply an evil but an adulterous Generation also upon occasion of their seeking after a Sign We know an adulterous disposition imports the departure and estrangedness of heart and affection from the person whom we ought by reason of our Conjugal Engagement to love and affect above all others together with the bestowing of them upon some other person whom we ought not to affect in any such way Now then our Saviour calling the Scribes and Pharisees an Adulterous Generation chargeth them that their hearts and souls were wickedly and basely alienated and estranged from God unto whom they were married by Covenant and should have cleaved with their whole heart and soul and have been of one heart and spirit with him whereas now they had coupled themselves with this present World with the honours riches and pleasures thereof and thereby they did plainly bewray their nakedness in this kind in that the voice and word of God which should have been familiar unto them as the voice of a Husband should be to a Wife which they should have known without any Dispute or Argument to make them know it was become so strange unto them that they were as far to seek whether it was his Word or no as they who never knew him nor scarce had heard of him and that they required as much satisfaction to be assured thereof as might serve to satisfie the greatest stranger under heaven So that they who call for Miracles upon the account mentioned declare themselves to be of the race of the Scribes and Pharisees who are an adulterous Generation Thirdly and lastly The holy and exemplary lives Sect. 16 and righteous conversations of the Ministers of the Gospel where persons have time and opportunity to observe and know them are as authoritative and mighty to convince men of the truth of the Doctrines they teach as Miracles themselves would be 2 Tim. 3.14 Acts 28.31 And as we lately heard that our Saviour severely taxed those that would
see and perceive upon the minding and narrow considerations of them that surely these things are so and so because they have so clear and happy a consistency with those things which they do believe already But what may be the Reason why the men and women we speak of Sect. 10 should think they edifie by such a kind of Ministry as their hearts are now lift up unto and could not edifie by the other which they did forsake I reply First The reason why they think they edifie by their new Ministry is either because they meet with new and strange terms uncouth phrases and expressions which they had not learned or heard of before or else for want of skill but chiefly for want of will care and desire to compare the substance of the matter which is delivered unto them in such new and strange Phrases and antique kind of Language with what they had learned before they conceive that behold now all things are become new now we are enlightned now we see and understand things that never entred into our thoughts or minds before whereas the truth is the matter that many times lieth under these new and uncouth Phrases and Expressions is but one and the self-same thing with that which they did understand and know before and they themselves might discover as much if they did but weigh and compare the words and phrases and what is imported in them As for instance the plain Doctrine of Mortification and Self-denial it is very strange to hear how and in what kind of habit they do adorn these Doctrines which are plain and wholsome and sound They put them into a new kind of expression that was not seen nor heard of before nor declared by those Ministers who are sound and sincere in their teaching of the Gospel It is in this case only as if a man should meet an old friend of his with a new Suite on his back of an antique and uncouth fashion which he was never seen or known to be in before in such a case as this one would think him to be a new man and some stranger So these men if they have but their old matter put into a new garbe of expression they are pleased and think they have heard excellent Notions and such things as they never did hear before The second Reason hereof seemeth to be this because they received distaste and dislike upon the account formerly mentioned namely that this Ministry is not for their turn it will not serve their lusts and the waies wherein they desire to walk Now upon such an occasion as this is beginning to conceive a distaste thenceforth they do gather from day to day and from time to time all matters which have any colour of dislike in them and if they can put any unworthy sense and interpretation upon any Passage or Doctrine that is delivered by such Teachers all this is put to that account namely to strengthen their own hands and hearts to forsake them and to quit themselves of them as it is with a side of a house which begins to settle all the weight of the house cometh that way So if the credit or authority of a Ministry do but begin a little to fall in the minds of men then all the weight of their infirmities who manage it or any thing in them that can be conceived to look like weakness or miscarriage will be laid upon it and so in a short time men will work themselves to a perfect liberty and thoughts will be made that this is not a Ministry for them and that their soul is not like to prosper under it and therefore they will seek where it may be better with them Again Sect. 11 Whereas the persons under reproof frequently charge that kind of Ministry which they forsake with being a legal Ministry I reply That I verily believe that they who thus pretend either know not or consider not what they speak herein for I would gladly know of them what they mean by a legal Ministry Is not their sense and notion of a legal Ministry this viz. to be frequent and zealous in pressing men to keep the Law to obey the Will and Commands of God and to threaten with wrath and the vengeance of hell fire the Children of disobedience and those that shall walk after the flesh and to promise the love and favour of God to the exact observers of his Law But if such a Ministry as this be legal what Ministry can be more legal than that exercised by the Lord Christ himself and his greatest Apostles both Peter and Paul c What Minister did ever press holiness or the duties required of men in the Law more strictly more zealously with greater authority and power than he Whoever threatned Transgressors with greater severity and dread than he in that most excellent discourse a Sermon of his as it is called upon the Mount Mat. 5. How doth he all along command and press the observation of the Law and the things contained in it The eight Beatitudes as they are commonly called what are they but a pressing by motives of weight certain duties contained in the Law As blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are the merciful c. Now all these are express duties contained in the Law and yet we see our Saviour commends them unto his Hearers by the great motives of blessedness which shall attend those who shall perform them And in ver 17. and many passages of that Chapter we find that the Lord Christ is very full and high in calling upon men for the duties of the Law Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil meaning in his own Person first and then to fulfill them likewise by his Doctrine and by the charge which he would leave with his Apostles and by them derive to all his Ministers and Agents to the worlds end So in ver 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these Commandments and shall teach men so to do he shall be accounted least in the Kingdom of Heaven But towards the end and conclusion of this Sermon Chap. 7.21 see with what mighty authority and force doth he impose upon men the keeping of the Law Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in heaven which holy and perfect will of God is comprehended and laid down in the Law ver 22. Many will say unto me in that day Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils c. Yet saith he ver 23. I will profess unto them I never knew them depart from me ye that work iniquity So that from this and many such like Passages it is evident that the Lord Jesus Christ was a great Exacter and Perswader a constant Urger and Presser
other men reward them here whereas he suffers the like Services of other men to pass unrewarded at present at least in respect of any rewards in the accommodations or good things of this World yea he suffers some persons of very eminent zeal and faithfulness unto him instead of any recompence in the former enjoyments of this World to be wâ—etchedly and cruelly entreated by the World which was the case of John â—he Baptist and Pâ—ul and of the rest of the Apostles generally It is true indeed the case is sometimes otherwise God doth reward the eminent Services of his Saints with the good things of this present World As in Phineas the Son of Eleazer Abraham Job and some others Num. 25.11 12 c. Gen 22.16 17 18. Job 42.10 11 c. Now if God should highly reward the services of some men with the signal blessings both of this World and the World to come and should reward the like services of other men only with the blessings of the World to come and this but the same in degree with the blessings of the other who had a gracious consideration likewise in the enjoyments of this World and were free at least comparatively and to a very great degree from those sharp trials and sufferings of the other Should not God in such Dispensations as these be hard and unequal If it be here said Sect. 17 But is not God at liberty to do with his own as he pleaseth as it is in the Parable Mat. 20.15 Or is not the good both of this present life and the life to come and all the degrees of either his And why then may he not give either an equal or unequal share and proportion to those whose services and sufferings for him have been unequal Or is he any waies necessitated to consult the degree of mens obedience or services to apportion or assign unto them his rewards I reply first If we consider God in the absoluteness and infinity of his Nature and Being and as undeclared unto the World in that Covenant and Word and in those Promises and other Manifestations which he hath made of himself in his Word unto men doubtless he is not impleadable not liable to any mans just exception in case he should dispose of his Treasure or good things upon such terms as the Objection mentioneth For setting aside the consideration of that Covenant which he hath strook with the World in Christ no person could have any reasonable colour or pretense to except or contend against him that the dealeth more bountifully with some than with others supposing that even they with whom he deals less bountifully yet receive from him measure heaped up pressed down and running over above the Line of their Services or Sufferings Secondly If we consider God as now having voluntarily engaged himself in the Covenant of grace and bounty which is contained and expressed in the Scriptures and more particularly in the New Testament in case he shall distribute his Rewards only according to the terms and rules here expressed he may be said to do with his own what he will because no man nor other Creature prescribed unto him any of these Rules no nor yet counselled or advised him to prescribe or make them but himself only Therefore when in the person of the Lord of the Vineyard in the Parable he demands of him that murmured against him for doing as he did i. e. for making those that had wrought but one hour in the day equal unto them that had borne the heat and burthen of the day Is it not lawful for me to do with mine own as I will It is not necessary to suppose that he claims a liberty or priviledge to dispose of that which is his contrary to his revealed will or contrary to those terms wherein he hath declared that he will dispose of his own It rather supposeth that they that contended with him about that disposition of his own which he made judged those terms and rules according unto which this disposition was made to be unreasonable and unequal and that God pleades the lawfulness and equity of them and so the lawfulness of his proceedings according to them in disposing of his own from this Principle in reason and of common acceptation amongst men that it is lawful for any man to dispose of that which is clearly and absolutely his own as himself pleaseth Thirdly When God by Promise or otherwise hath declared unto the World by what Rules and Principles he purposeth to walk towards all mankind in the distributions of his rewards in case he should walk contrary to them he should be liable unto the exceptions and expostulations and cavils of men Certainly he never doth this doth not make distribution of any of his Treasury contrary to those terms which he hath declared Possibly he may sometimes seem to some one to do so who doth not righly understand his Covenant nor his mind and meaning therein Now then the Laws or Terms of the Covenant according unto which God hath declared and still doth declare unto the World that he will reward and punish men are to this effect in the point we speak of viz. that he will reward every man according to his works that they who sow sparingly shall reap sparingly and they that sow liberally shall reap liberally And again that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord with many things of like import Therefore now in respect of those bands and engagements wherein God hath voluntarily engaged himself he is not at liberty to do otherwise As Paul said He could do nothing against the truth but for the truth So neither can God do any thing against himself but for himself he can do nothing against his own honour and his own glory but only for them And as the Maxime or Saying amongst men Every man may do with his own as he pleaseth is to be understood with this Explication or Proviso he may do with it as he pleaseth viz. in a rational way and so as neither to destroy or hurt himself or others In like manner God may do with his own what he will so he doth all things for his own honour and glory But that mentioned in the Objection wherein it is supposed that men that are unequal in Service to God may yet be made equal in Rewards by him it seems at least to have a kind of appearance against the truth of God and against those Engagements and Declarations which he hath made concerning himself and concerning his intentions and purposes to proceed with men in the Gospel You heard before that he that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly now if he that soweth sparingly shall reap liberally or have the same encrease of his slender sowing which the other hath of his liberal sowing here would as it were be a blot upon the truth of God in such a Saying and in such a Declaration of himself And so
hired in the Morning and then with the rest that came later and then with the last that came at the Eleventh hour When the first saw that there was as much given unto those that had laboured but one hour of the day as there was unto them that had borne the heat and burthen of the day this caused them to break out against the Housholder that had hired them as if he were unequal unreasonable and unjust in giving more unto such as had laboured less as they judged it and less to them who had laboured more the proportion of their labour considered Now Christ shews that this might very well be in the Kingdom of Heaven that is in the business of the Gospel and preaching of that in the World that God may justly and upon his own terms though he would not account with such Murmurers and Quarrellers about his terms yet that God was at liberty to make what Law or Terms he pleased for the disposal of his own and to walk by this Rule accordingly that this was just and equal and there was no cause to contend with him or to murmur against him for so doing But it may be some mans Question Sect. 20 But how could any such Terms or Rules be equal for God to proceed by to make these equal in reward who laboured but one hour with those that laboured many and as themselves pleaded their own cause that had borne the heat and burthen of the day To this I answer That God doth not simply and barely estimate the external Actions and Services of men but doth lay together and puts into the balance whatsoever it may be the inward frame of the heart and soul And so we find in Scripture that when mention is made of the righteousness of God in judging of men it is said that he will judge men according to their works and bring forth every secret thing to judgment That which will bear special weight in the judgment of God is the frame of the heart and spirit which it may be some had not the opportunity fully and thoroughly to express in their outward deportments and service in the World but when God comes to pass Sentence and to give Judgment then he will estimate things according to the strictest and accuratest terms of reason But our Saviour in this Parable sets forth the high presuming nature of the Jews in opposition to the Gentiles whom they despised and who at the Eleventh hour of the day were called into the Service of God He there sets forth their Genius and Disposition who because they had done so much and had been so laborious above others in the Works of the Law and in the Ceremonies and Sacrifices and in the legal Rites and Observations therefore they thought they should have double and trebble and a thousand-fold above the Gentiles that came in so late Now the Lord Christ declares unto the Jews Parabolically that he knew the frames of their hearts how they were much expecting and looking for rewards from him for what they did upon the account of themselves but intimates that the Gentiles were content to submit to the good will and pleasure of God that they came in to serve him freely without indenting or any particular contracting with him after the manner which it seems the Jews did Upon this account he makes equal the performance and Services of the Gentiles though it was not of so long a continuance The Gentiles had not been so long in his Vineyard as they had been yet the Gentiles served him with a better heart and more ingenious mind and affections than the Jews did which they ought to have considered and not so much to have stood upon their ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl their Sacrifices and Legal Observations as to contend with God for a reward in rigour of Justice That by the Peny is not here meant Eternal life Chrysostome of old and sundry later Interpreters have sufficiently proved from hence namely that they who come in at the first hour of the day that is the murmurers and those whose eyes were evil because God was good that envied at the bounty and magnificence of God towards the poor Gentiles that such persons are not like to receive the Kingdom of Heaven Salvation from the hand of God Or if we should in the last place understand by the Peny here the Kingdom of Heaven or Salvation it self yet would it not follow from thence that therefore all these workmen had all the same part and the same portion there or the same degrees in glory Because as when it is said that the Righteous shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father though they shall be all equal in this that they shall all shine as the Sun yet it doth not follow that they shall all shine with the same lustre and splendor and brightness but that there may be different degrees of shining So it may be said that all those persons even they that were men of an evil eye and were apt to murmur and grudge at them who they thought were inferiour unto themselves and had not been so long in the Service of God as they supposing I say that those persons should be saved as well as the other yet it doth not follow that therefore there should be no difference between the one and the other for every one may have his Peny if we understand Salvation by it for all the Saints and all Believers that have the least Faith and the lowest degree in Grace as well as the highest they shall all be saved But it doth in no wise follow from hence because they shall receive every man a Peny that therefore they shall each one receive no greater proportion than the other I say it hinders not but that there may be degrees and greater proportions and shares in this Salvation to be conferred upon some above what shall be given or conferred upon other So that the truth is though this Parable be very hard and obscure and accordingly hath tried the Judgments and Understandings of men and divided them to purpose Yet there is nothing can reasonably be brought from it which hath any clear or pregnant Argument against that inequality of rewards which we have been arguing until now So that we shall take this for a ground or Basis of that Discourse which we are upon That certainly there is a variety and difference of Rewards in Heaven there are Crowns some greater and more weightier than others Now this we should have added in the close that the Crowns of greatest weight and glory are prepared for the heads of those who are filled with the Spirit of God these are the persons that shall be highest and nearest unto Jesus Christ in his glory they that shall most abound in the work of the Lord they that are fullest of Zeal and Faithfulness they that will make the greatest disposure of themselves that shall be content to
will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Page 164 Abide in me Ver. 15.4 5. and I in you he that abideth in me and I in him bringeth forth much fruit Page 197 198 But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father Ver. 15.26 even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me Page 164 c. He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you Ver. 16.14 Page 216 217 218 And now Father Ver. 17.5 glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was Page 136 c. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me Ver. 8. and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they believed that thou didst send me Page 516 c. And when he had said this Ver. 20.22 23. he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Page 173 c. Men and Brethren Acts 1.16 this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas Page 176 And when they heard that Acts 4.24 they lift up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said Why did the Heathen rage c. Page 176 Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost Acts 5.3 Page 42 177 Why have ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord Ver. 9. Page 177 For in him we live Ver. 17.28 and move and have our being Page 86 We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost Ver. 19.2 Page 228 Behold I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem Ver. 20.22 Page 43. c Because when they knew God they glorified him not as God Rom. 1.21 Page 68 Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations Rom. 4.18 Page 105 Giving glory to God Ver. 20. Page 105 c. For I know that in me Ver. 7.18 that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Page 299 But I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind Ver. 23. and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Page 299 For as many as are led by the Spirit Ver. 8.14 c. Page 295 We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Ver. 15. Abba Father Page 505 c. The Spirit it self bearing witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Ver. 16. Page 504 c. And of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came Ver. 9.5 who is over all God blessed for ever Page 189 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Ver. 10.9 c. Page 48 But fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Ver. 12.11 Page 14 Rulers are not a terror to good works Ver. 13.3 but to evil Page 68 Attending continually upon this very thing Ver. 6. Page 68 For the Spirit of God searcheth the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 Page 171 231 232 233 For what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 Page 171 For though I preach the Gospel I have nothing to glory of 1 Cor. 9.16 for necessity is laid upon me yea woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel Page 353 354 Wherefore Tongues are for a sign not to them that believe 1 Cor. 14.22 but to them that believe not but Prophesying serveth not for them that believe not but for them that believe Page 406 c. Therefore 1 Cor. 15.38 my Beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmovable alwaies abounding in the Work of the Lord for asmuch as you know your labour is not in vain in the Lord Page 112 113 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 but our sufficiency is of God Page 242 For whether we be besides our selves it is to God 2 Cor. 5.13 or whether we be sober it is for your cause Page 43 44 Having therefore these Promises 2 Cor. 7.1 let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord Page 133 134 Your Zeal hath provoked very many 2 Cor. 9.2 Page 47 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly 2 Cor. 9.6 and he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully Page 544 For the Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal 2 Cor. 10.4 but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong Holds Page 430 431 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.7 the Messenger of Sathan Page 492 For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit Gal. 5.17 c. so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Page 252 269 Bear ye on anothers burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 Page 50 51 For he that soweth to the Spirit Gal. 6.8 c. Page 290 Which is his body Eph. 1.23 the fulness of him that filleth all in all Page 131 For this cause I bow my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3.14 15 16. Of whom the whole Family of Heaven and Earth is named That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Page 58 59 60 That ye might being rooted and grounded in love Ver. 17 18. may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the length and breadth and depth and height c. Page 71 72 73 Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth Ver. 4.29 30. c. Grieve not the holy Spirit of God Page 12 13 304 305 Knowing whatsoever good thing any man doth Ver. 6.8 the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free Page 112 Many waxed confident by my bonds Phil. 1.14 Page 47 Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 13. for it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure Page 158 Who shall change our vile body Phil. 3.21 c. Page 122 123 That in all things he might have the preeminence Col. 1.18 Page 122 Quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 Page 10 11 12 God who counted me faithful 1 Tim. 1.12 putting me into the Ministry Page 35 36 I obtained mercy 1 Tim. 1.16 that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern Page 33 For the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine 2 Tim. 4.3 but will heap up Teachers according to their own lusts